I've selected 8 shows based on their status as:>mainstream, popular TV anime>from after 2007>which are widely discussed and largely criticized on /a/>and are not strictly romance/harem or Slice of Life (there's a potential second bracket for that)

I'd like for you to vote in this 3-round bracket to decide which of these "entry-level" shows is the one most enjoyed by /a/ relative to the rest. This is not necessarily about which one is objectively the "best", but rather which one you personally like watching the most from each voting round.

1. Sword Art Online vs Attack on Titan
http://strawpoll.me/1001594

2. Fate/Zero vs Code Geass
http://strawpoll.me/1001595

3. Kill La Kill vs Gurren Lagann
http://strawpoll.me/1001602

4. Steins;Gate vs Madoka
http://strawpoll.me/1001604

After sufficient votes (500?) have been received or the thread 404s, I'll post the winners of this round and the links for the finalists.

Use the thread to discuss your choices, make predictions, or complain about the "fanbases".

>>100004991
You obviously have NOT been here long enough if you think that.
Each one of these shows at one point or another have been labelled "Mainstream shit" by /a/ and blamed for letting website X feel accepted on /a/ or board Y making threads here.

>>100005165
I've been here long enough. I know what I said and I standby it. Out of all the anime you mentioned, SAO is the only one that fits every piece of criteria you picked, and as far as the whole "we're being invaded!" mentality goes, SAO and AoT are the only possible /a/ that really fall under that category since /a/ only started really bitching about being invaded like it does now after KS was released. Before then people would only complain about /b/ whenever there was shitposting or Gaia in the case of Naruto/Elfen Lied threads.

>>100006772
I don't doubt it, and frankly I don't care. It's to be expected. The result affects nobody. If one fanbase is rabid enough to proxy for their favorite show, then that tells me something too.

Again this isn't about which show is the "best artistic work", "best community" or whatever. It's about what your personal favorites are.

>>100007918
I think one big reason Madoka didn't impact me as much is I was never into the magical girl genre, along with the fact I watched it in 2012 and knew about it being really dark, where as watching it live had episode 3 be a huge turn in tone.

SnK > SAO, This bracket will not make it to the finals
F/Z > CG. This bracket will be in the finals
TTGL > Unfinished IRC fodder. This bracket will not make it to the finals
S:G > Madoka. This bracket will make it to the finals

I really think it's unfair to have KLK up there. You probably wouldn't have included any of the others while they were half finished. I also think you should have mixed up the matches because group B shits on A.

>>100009730
and thats why its losing because the people who don't care for S;G or Madoka are obviously going to vote for S;G since Madoka still geting like 10 threads a day so they find the fanbase more cancerous.

>>100010161
Either Bakemonogatari or FMA:B would have been better fits and stronger contenders.
Then again retards would say the former is a harem because they think "harem" means "more than one significant female character"

>>100010292
They're extremely popular for a reason. It's rare that those kinds of titles are completely, irredeemably shit. They may be overrated and the fanbases may be awful, but they're hardly as horrible as people make them out to be.

There are exceptions like SAO though, I don't know why that garbage got so hyped.

>>100010340
Just because there are a few dorks on every website still doesn´t mean its mainstream. Mainstream is asking people someone on the stream and a good percentage recognizing it. That is mainstream.

>>100010749
Popularity on MAL just means how many people have it on their lists. It doesn't account for whether or not they like it or not.
For example, Death Note is number one for popularity by 100,000 people but it still isn't in the top 30 by ranking.

>>100010910
What the fuck does that have to do with popularity? Unpopular indie movies get nominated all the fucking time for oscars. Most anime watchers are 13 year olds watching on streaming sites, not the people you find on /a/.

>>100010928
No one said ANYTHING about the quality. JUST the popularity.

>which are widely discussed and largely criticized on /a/>which are widely discussed and largely criticized on /a/>which are widely discussed and largely criticized on /a/>which are widely discussed and largely criticized on /a/>which are widely discussed and largely criticized on /a/>/a/>largely criticized

>>100010436
That's an easy one. Imagine an anime that cuts out all the bullshit, good and bad. One that takes a sub-sub genre that's only popular in anime (LIVING IN THE DATABASE, DATABASEWOW), and makes it so simple that it's a heat-seeking missile of mainstream-bait. Give it a plain english title that sounds just odd enough to evoke mild 'Japanese culture' imagery, such as swords and art, but not hard to say.

Also, make it not look too horrible. Shit, SAO is more Gateway than 3 InuYashas.

>>100011472
I think the comparisons make sense, even if in a tourney sense they aren't really the best matches.

SnK and SAO are the 'biggest things', the really popular mainstream shit people think are amazing.
KLK and TTGL are always compared because of Trigger/Gainax and because they are similar
Fate/Zero and Code Geass both have 'unique' MCs and both shows still have large following on /a/ (can't think of anything else)
Steins;Gate and Madoka both involve time travel... I guess

>>100011745
But the purpose of the thread isn't just to compare relevant titles, it is to label the "Best current mainstream anime". So including unfinished titles and titles like SnK/SAO is unfounded.

>>100011773
Yes, I seriously think that. SAO is shit and SnK is average, but S;G is beyond shit. I felt so embarassed for the director while for watching the first ~8 episodes before droping it. I honestly haven't seen any half-popular anime that was this badly written in every regard.

>>100012031
Because OP is a Steins;Gay faggot who literally only made this tournament to personally proxyspam it. Madoka has always absolutely destroyed Steins;Gay in every poll made here on /a/. These results make absolutely no sense. And
Look at his choice of image here:>>100011227
He's a piece of shit Shits;Gay fag without a doubt.

>>100011883
Madoka:
- Breaks several cancerous anime/mahou shoujo tropes, like friendship always winning, important charcters not dying that early, the MC being a selfless saint who helps everyone without thinking of her own safety

S;G:
Is cliche incarnate. Has characters as flat as molten Gel-Banana.

>>100012552
If OP was biased for S;G he would have switched it with F/Z so it would be a finalist. Sorry to say but the voting stops at 500 for a reason, so that potentially undecided (or back and forth) results can be concluded

>>100012575>especially early on when the thread was new.
That means you proxyspammed it. Don't fuck with me. I've been doing this shit for years. I know every trick in the book. The only way to rig a poll from the start is to create it yourself and spam it from the start.

So what's this about a second bracket for Romance/Harem/SoL shows? I think comedy should be in there as well.

If we're doing that, I think Clannad ~AS~, Toradora, K-ON, X-monogatari (maybe, depends on what other people think since the genre is arguable), S&W, Sora no Woto, Nichijou, and maybe Oreimo (for popularity, anyway) should be possible contenders.

Hey Medokasses
Lets put this into context for you>A simple race to the finish line>Team A wins>Team B runs past the finish line after A has won>Team B spews about how they went past them thinking it means something

>>100013229
Why? The adaptation was done a lot better than most adaptations. The music was great, the animation was great (inb4 waah filters), the pacing was great, and the only thing that I didn't really like was Kirei vs Kerry at the end.

>>100012986
Kind of off there. >OP, who is clearly biased for Team B only posts a loose definition of where the race ends>OP injects steroids into Team B the entire race>Despite that, Team A about to pass Team B>OP places the finish line right in front of Team B at that exact moment, milliseconds before Team A passes Team B so that Team B wins anyway

>>100013574
Except you have a whole thread full of people telling you you're new.
That should tell you something
Or maybe you're not new. Maybe you're just extremely clueless, one of those guys who actually falls for the IRC thing.

In either case, you should probably just back off gracefully before you embarrass yourself further.

>>100013527
Read the thread. Op is posting mostly Steins;Gate images. And that one guy pointed out how spamming at the very beginning of a poll is an indication of the creator rigging it himself. And he's right. I've made a few polls on /a/. Every single time I personally spammed them to get a head start on everyone else.

>>100014658
The funny part is I would rather proxyspam for Gurren Lagann, but I did neither, because I don't care about "having my favorites win". I'm interested in finding what other people want to win, which was the whole point of this thread, because I was curious.

>>100014853
It isn't. The characters were done developing by the end of the first season, the action scenes are intentionally meat headed and simplistic, the "inspirational dialogue" is mostly meaningless gobbelygook, and the second season is generally shit. Fate/Zero is much better.

>>100016028>most iconic anime of the last 5 years
Do people actually believe this?
I mean, I thought it was funny that hardly anyone was watching Madoka, threads from episode 1 and 2 404 really fast, but then Urobutcher decided to kill Mami and then suddenly it's the best anime of all time.